Date:         Sun, 15 Aug 1999 11:44:42 -0700
Reply-To:     Steve@SCHWENK-LAW.COM
Sender:       Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com>
From:         Steve@SCHWENK-LAW.COM
Subject:      Syncro Popping Out of 1st Gear
Comments: To: "Syncro@onelist.com" <Syncro@onelist.com>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii

I just returned from a trip to Lake Edison in the John
Muir wilderness south of Yosemite.  What a place!  It
snowed a bit on tuesday, but was in the 80's and sunny
every other day, although a bit chilly at night.

There is a 25 mile one-lane road leading up to the
lake, which is very twisty and requires slow going
since cars are coming the other way and there's only
room for one vehicle...with steep drop-offs of hundreds
of feet in places.  Thus, it's slow going and first
gear gets a lot of use.

Much to my dismay, my syncro popped out of first gear
under load on downhills....it's fine under load when
accelerating, but when going down hill...and not
accelerating...it pops out.  The load on the tranny is
not radical or anything...in fact i tried it at all
different load ranges and anything more than coasting
is enough to disengage it.

What is really disturbing about this is that I had my
tranny rebuilt one year ago.  Before the rebuild, the
tranny did the same thing...popped oput of first.  This
was one of the items to be fixed.  And it was.  It did
not pop out of first gear again until about a month ago
as I was in bumper-to-bumper traffic on the Golden Gate
Bridge.  So, it would seem there is wear going on.
Also, when i changed my tranny oil 2 months ago, there
was a definite alumnium sheen to the oil (another
story).

My questions:

(1) Does anyone else have this problem?

(2) What should i tell the rebuilder i want them to do?